Daily News

Germany – More pensioners working in old age

28 August 2012

More and more pensioners in Germany are active in the labour market as the number of those boosting their pensions has gone up by nearly +60% to 761,000 since 2000, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reports today.

A significant number of those were working in so-called “Mini-jobs” with 120,000 aged over 75 still going to work. A freedom of information request by the left-wing party revealed that many pensioners want to work because they feel fit for work and are not necessarily reliant on the money.

A labour expert, Holger Schäfer, told the paper that many of those working in high age are also highly qualified. But at the same time critics argue that particularly those working in Mini-jobs do so because they are unable to live on their pensions alone.

Those kind of jobs offer little money and were introduced under the Government of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder in 2003 as part of a labour market reform. Mini-jobbers can earn up to €400 a month but workers are exempt from social insurance contributions and tax.

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